Limbonic Art Interview

Great moments and years were had from “Moon in the Scorpio” (1996) and until “Epitome of Illusions” (1998) by Limbonic Art, where the ideas of dark and symphonic keyboards were for all of us what we heard at the time, Black Metal of your own heart. Then the years passed, and the band led by Daemon had a tremendous turn from “Legacy of Evil” (2007), where they left aside the symphonic moments and added some more folkloric and raw details to their music, I remember a friend from the web band who said “without keyboards, it's not Limbonic Art”, but that is living from the past and nostalgia because if you wanted to live from that feeling all your life, you better get your time machine, that's impossible. Every musician grows and advances and getting carried away by nostalgia does not allow us to see new things in the career of a band like this; So, now we have their 9th studio album called “Opus Daemoniacal”. Therefore, we have an interview with Daemon.

Para leer la entrevista en español: Entrevista a Limbonic Art

Metallerium: Welcome Daemon to the pages of Metallerium, it is a tremendous pleasure to talk with you about Limbonic Art, this new album Opus Daemoniacal and many other things related to the metal world. We’ll start by asking, how are you? How was the band in recent years?

Limbonic Art: Greetings all readers of Metallerium. Thanks for all your devoted years supporting Limbonic Art. It is a true pleasure to participate in these pages, and to reach out to the true worshippers of metal music in your continent. At the current time, we have a tropical spell here in my area, or, over all in Norway. After weeks of cold and rainy weather, the conditions are now quite unbearable in my point of view. It is way too hot, so most of the time I just seek solace in the shadows. Being born and raised in the north, I am more equipped for the colder seasons with snow and ice, even though, up here in the mountains it can be truly freezing at times. You asked about the band in recent years…?! Well, due to a lot of unforeseen incidents in the last decade and more. I have been for longer periods rather ineffective regarding new music. Ever since a brutal car accident which almost killed me back in 2010, right after the release of “Phantasmagoria”. There has been a hellish trial back to normal life. I have been in and out of hospitals due to all injuries from the accident. Sometimes in excruciating physical pains. All this affected my moods tremendously and often I did not have any energy nor inspiration for music. At times I just felt like retiring from music permanently. But obviously hell and its demons had planned differently for me. I managed to compose enough material to start recording “Spectre Abysm '' under quite stressful conditions, both with the studio and more domestic related things. First the studio hard disc broke down, and all programs had to be installed from scratch, causing huge delays. Then there was an electrical fire in the studio, damaging important equipment, causing even further delays. At some point I was almost two years behind deadline, and the label at that point (Candlelight) got concerned if the album ever would get finished. I had to make an executive decision to secure all my files on an external hard disc and continue in another studio. The curse seemed to follow me there when the files did not transfer successfully to the new computer, and everything were like a mess. We managed to save the drums. But all the numerous hours of composing symphonic orchestras to every song were plagued by chaos and so unsynchronized that I had to delete them all and concentrate on finishing the rest of the album with the little time I had. I managed at the last minute to add some synths before I sent it further to the label. There was no time to re-produce any of the vanished symphonic orchestration, which is really a shame, because the album lost perhaps some of its potential. The first studio technician, who heard the music with the symphonic orchestration. He said it was truly like the old and early days of Limbonic Art. I agree with that comment, but at least I managed to finish the album, and all in all it turned out great.

Metallerium: I understand Opus Daemoniacal is an album that comes after 7 years of absence from albums within the band. Tell me, why did it take the band 7 years to release a new album?

Limbonic Art: Like I mentioned in the answer above, there have been many unpredicted events the last decade and more. The brutal car accident back in 2010 has demanded a lot of time in hospitals for further examinations to establish how severe the injuries were, and what kind of procedures would benefit me the best. I mean, broken bones will most likely heal with time. But the agony that I endured back then and still endure today, often kills my moods to practice music. It for sure makes things harder to accomplish. I also struggled with a terrible writer’s block for some time. I did not feel motivated or inspired to create anything. New ideas that occurred, seemed too like previous work of mine, and if I should at all release a new album after “Spectre Abysm '', it had to be something truly spectacular. At times, it felt like there would be no more albums. But as it appeared, hell and all its demons had planned another return for me and Limbonic Art, and the name of the beast is “Opus Daemonical”.

Metallerium: Many bands and musicians see each album as a child, each one special in its own way. So, what makes this album special to you? And how do you work to maintain your classic sound while keeping your compositions fresh after so many years as a band?

Limbonic Art: Well, the classic sound of Limbonic Art used to contain a lot of keyboards and synths. These phenomena however, got slowly stripped away on later albums, until there was nothing at all left, except from the occasional intro/outro. As the history reveals since the “Phantasmagoria” album. There has been a lot of adversity in my life, that has affected the composition period as well as the recording process. Very similar to its predecessor “Spectre Abysm”, the album “Opus Daemoniacal” also suffered from curse-like conditions all the way through the initial process. I practically crashed and lived at a friend’s rehearsal place for two months due to some domestic distress at my apartment. I only started to play around with the “Drumkit from Hell” program, while I smoked a lot of weed to kill some time. I had no specific new material to work with, but meanwhile I became more familiar with the drum-program, new ideas for the guitars emerged for each day. I worked only during the daytime, because then the place was vacant. In the evening other musicians came to work, so I saved my files, and went for a ritualistic trek in the nearby forests. I noticed after a while that a darker entity started to follow me and speaking to my subconsciousness, it also guided my dreams, and more new ideas came to me. Not only for guitars, but also vocal arrangements. From lead vocals to huge choir sections. This is not something new to me, but the first time it felt so strong. At night I also had to sleep in my car during quite freezing temperatures. So, all this inspired me to compose this new album. But then more unforeseen distress arrived in the form of a huge water leakage in the roof to the studio. All equipment had to be removed before renovation. This seemed to be such time demanding work, so I secured all my files on an external hard disc and contacted a more professional studio, to finish the album there. Again, there were some difficulties transferring my project unto the new computer. But he was an experienced studio technician, so he found solutions to all problems that occurred. At this point I had been working solely without any budget, so all expenses came from my own pocket. So, I was given a crash course in how to record by myself on his slightly different system, to save money, and so I could work alone without any disturbance. In the first studio where I initially started the composition of the album, I was for two months disturbed by people who ran in and out of the studio all the time. It was only quiet in the very early morning hours, but eventually they all seemed to wake up from their slumber and started to haunt the studio where I was working. At least I did not pay anything for working there, and therefore I could not really complain much about their frequent commotion either. So that was a true relief in the second studio. The owner kept his distance, at the same time he was always available in case I needed his professional skills with the equipment. After he helped me transfer the drums to his machinery, I then started to record all the guitars from scratch. Then the bass and all the distinctive vocals. I eventually began looking into some keyboard and synth plugins, but I realized it would demand too much time, and I had to be very selective. I took it as a challenge to create the symphonies with layers of guitars, bass and all the distinctive vocals, instead of implementing keyboard orchestration. I honestly believe that this new material is much better without. The songs are still very strong, and I am extremely proud to have composed and produced such a beast of an album. First time doing so much work by myself, and that makes this album very special to me. In my opinion, it is the most distinguished album I ever made.

Metallerium: Talking about this album. How do you choose the name of your album? Is it random or do you try to convey something that encompasses the concept of the entire album? Also, how do you typically decide the order of the songs on an album? I feel like that’s an important aspect of the listening experience.

Limbonic Art: When I initially started composing the new material, I decided the working title “Daemoniacal Urges” to separate my project from all the other projects stored at the same computer in that first studio. It was also to mark my territory, so the other musicians did not mess about with my stuff. When the album was completed in the second studio, I did a slight alteration to the title, and it became “Opus Daemoniacal”. It felt like a very suitable title, and it establishes my role in this entire process. From start to finish I envisaged myself as a pilgrim, a wanderer in the shadows of this world, watching, waiting, and contemplating. The domains I visit are to some extent classical for Limbonic Art. The astral dreamscapes, the spiritual quest, the cosmos-satanic influence, the fascination of death and darker mysticism, but also the celebration of greatness in war as the track “Vir Triumphalis” convey. Based on a dream I had as the embodiment of a Commanding Chief, a General who led his armies victorious into battle. It could very well be a reflection from a previous life, a memory from countless unhallowed centuries ago. It all merged in this remarkable metal hymn. I am what I am, I create what I create, I am the existing one, Daemon! I agree with you that the order of the songs on an album is crucial for the ultimate listening experience. This time it all represented itself very naturally. It was in that exact order I made and recorded the songs.

Metallerium: I really like the album art for the new album. How do you choose your album art and what were you trying to express with it?

Limbonic Art: At first, the idea was to request a commissioned work from a professional artist, some oil painting or such. But then later, when I received some stills from that Limbonic Art video we made for the track “Ad Astra et Abyssos”. I found a very cool picture of me holding that wanderers stick that I used in the video. I asked the video producer Sean Fulton, who is an ardent aficionado of photography, to make some photoshop work on it, and described what details I was looking for. He was rather pressed for time due to his regular job, so he forwarded the still photo to his companion Esther Villela who did an amazing work by creating a cosmic surrounding and placed me in the center of this universe. I instantly felt it was worthy as the front cover of my new opus. Then, I sent this further to the label who put their chief designer Lukasz Jaszac on the task, who developed the cover further with adding more exclusive details, like draconic demons who appear like my chariot, that pulls me forward. So, the album art was created in several steps, with more than one artist. It was like they all read my mind to what I was looking for, and I am unbelievably grateful for their contribution.

Metallerium: Focusing on this “Opus Daemoniacal” and its promotion plan, what are the promotion plans you have for this album? tours, concerts, videos, etc.

Limbonic Art: One video was made for the track “Ad Astra et Abyssos” and released as the opening campaign on YouTube a few months ago. Then furthermore two tracks from the album followed. The album premiere happened very recently, on the 24th of June. Meanwhile, I am doing as many interviews as possible to promote the band in general and of course the new album. I’m sure the label has their own special promotional plan with all their bands and artists, and Limbonic Art is extremely grateful to have this professional team behind. However, tours and concerts are not planned, and will not happen in any foreseeable future. Simply because I am personally not motivated to stand on a stage and perform live anymore. Those days are long gone. Please keep in mind that Limbonic Art was never meant to be a live band. We only experimented with doing a few live shows and short tours back in the days, just to promote the band. I was never comfortable performing live shows back then either, with only the two of us members performing with drums and all the symphonic orchestration running as backtracks. Despite meeting a lot of dedicated fans who made it worth the effort. I personally hated all the commotion with travelling and suffering from bad sound wherever we played. Today I would need a full line up with professional musicians to perform live. That takes too much time to accomplish, and most skilled musicians are occupied with their own bands and projects, that makes things even more difficult.

Metallerium: With 30 years as a band and now 9 studio albums, if you had to pick one or three major milestones in your career, what would they be?

Limbonic Art: “Moon in the Scorpio” is still an amazing album in my opinion. “In Abhorrence Dementia” has many great songs, but I am not so enthusiastic about the sound production. In fact, all Limbonic Art albums have great song material. But, besides the obvious debut album, I think I prefer the last two albums “Spectre Abysm” and “Opus Daemoniacal” as the major milestones in my career.

Metallerium: Speaking a little about the band’s discography, it is well, many of us who have known the band since its beginnings that keyboards were a fundamental element of Limbonic Art, but a few albums ago the band began to focus on something rawer and not using many keyboards. What were the reasons for the band to change its music and sound? Do you think that that detail that made them particular in the past was lost in changing direction a little?

Limbonic Art: I understand that for many fans of the earlier years of Limbonic Art remain a bit confused and disappointed even when the keyboards slowly faded out of the music. In Limbonic Art there has always been a relentless aim to evolve as artists and musicians. The music is basically composed to our own liking and in the interest to constantly move forward despite what others think. Personally, I dislike the idea of resting on former glory just to obtain more fame, maintain fame or even to earn more money. That goes against my die-hard principles as an artist. In the initial years of Limbonic Art we were amongst very few who experimented with classical symphonic elements and black metal. Since then, there are so many new bands who try exactly the same, and they all sound almost the same. It is basically copies on copies that resonate rather tediously. Symphonic black metal became a fucking trend, and at one point I generally lost the interest implementing such elements as keyboards and synths. The old magic was completely gone! Time changes and so does the music. Limbonic Art’s soul stays unique no matter what. There is no point in releasing the same album over and over until grim death. I believe the symphonies are still detectable in the music, it’s only performed in a pure metal way. Metal for me is raw aggression and power conveyed in a somewhat melodious fashion, yet still extreme.

Metallerium: Limbonic Art from the beginning was always a force of one person, and in the past, I remember that in past interviews you said that you had members for all the instruments, but then you decided to follow the path with Morfeus and then he retired permanently in 2006. So, what do you think were the reasons for Limbonic Art to always be a one-person power and not have committed members?

Limbonic Art: Well, Limbonic Art started as a four-piece band, consisting of members from two local thrash/death metal bands that split up. We tried to find our true musical pathway, but eventually there were too many differences that divided us. There were also some tendencies of excessive drug abuse that caused our demise. I was the only one who was dedicated enough to continue with the music. I met with Morfeus after a rather tragic live show with the first line up. He requested my interest in starting to play together. So, we did, and that was much more to my liking. So, when the first line up finally broke down, I kept the name Limbonic Art since I was the true founder. And from there everything has become a well-known history. In the beginning there was an almost magical collaboration between Me and Morfeus, but after some time and a few albums later, things started to divide us. Perhaps our ego became too strong, the tension eventually split us up as a band. We tried a reunion a few years later with the album “Legacy of Evil”, but when I noticed the same tension was still present, I decided to terminate his membership permanently, and continue Limbonic Art alone. I suppose my ego is very strong and I don’t work well with others over a longer period of time. I definitely know what I want and it’s hard to find like minded individuals who are truly dedicated to their art. There was a time when I searched high and low for such personalities. I had for a while a side-project called Sarcoma Inc. with a real drummer. Together we produced three albums in our five years of existence. In that timespan I contacted a few selected individuals to join us in the unholy campaign. They were all occupied and committed to their own personal bands and projects, so they had no time to spare. Understandable, but also so damn frustrating. So that led us to remain as a two-piece project, with main focus on rehearsals and studio work. We played three live shows in total with a session bass player, who learned the songs in one rehearsal. So incredibly skilled multi-instrumental guy who was not really into extreme metal. But he knew the drummer and he stepped in when he had the chance. He had several projects that eventually demanded all his attention. So, that was that! Another important fact to be considered, is that I personally have moved further and further away from the main society to more remote and desolate areas of Norway. I thrive in this kind of wilderness, and I rather despise urban territories. That means a lot of travelling is necessary if I want to visit someone, either for band rehearsals or just social calls. Most of the time I am not in the mood for any of the above mentioned. The misanthropic fire burns stronger than ever!

Metallerium: I know that many people do not take kindly to Limbonic Art’s new musical concept of making it rawer and more direct, without many keyboards as it was in the past. So, how do you take people’s opinions on the change of direction you now have since Phantasmagoria (2010)?

Limbonic Art: People must think whatever they want, it doesn’t concern me at all. I always make the music that I like, and I only need to stay true to my inner self. If people like what I do, it’s brilliant. I am always grateful for the support! But, in case they don’t like what I do, well I refuse to serve anyone! No Man nor God shall stand before myself! In my honest opinion, I think that keyboards and synths often make metal music soft and weak. It was interesting to experiment with such implements back in the days. But to produce the same album over and over again is for me completely unexciting. It is also to my understanding that many listeners who did Not like Limbonic Art’s previous work, suddenly now find the music much more improved. It is however an impossible task to satisfy everyone! Therefore, I chose to stay faithful to my own desires!

Metallerium: Switching gears, there is a lot of talk these days about the advancement of Artificial Intelligence and how fast it has advanced that it is even being used in the arts, both for composing music and for graphic art. How do you see this from your perspective, and do you think in the future you will use it to compose, or design a cover or a video, for example?

Limbonic Art: I am really not that concerned in how things are made as long as it looks cool and possibly sounds cool. I have limited skills and insight in modern computer technology, so I will stay true to the old school way of composing music. Even though digitalization has become more common in today’s music productions, I am still not a huge fan of modern soundscapes.

Metallerium: We are close to finishing this interview Daemon and talking about a topic that changed the perspective of the understanding of Metal worldwide, it is social networks. As you know today, thanks to these media, Metal became more understandable and comprehensible, and even lost that sense of impact, fear, or mystery that it had during the 70s, 80s, and 90s when you talked about Brujeria and you believed that they were narcosatanists, or talking about King Diamond was thinking that he lived in a castle, or Bruce Dickinson writing lyrics to only bother conservative people, or ideas of Satanists by many Black Metal bands, etc. Now there is no mystery or curiosity that metal gave you on a general level. What is your point of view about this move away from the fear, mystery, or curiosity that metal had before and now everything has been compressible?

Limbonic Art: I agree that with social media, much of the underground metal scene and also metal in general has been demystified. Still, you cannot trust everything that is spewed out all over the social networks. The news is often created by media whores that are totally self-absorbed and delusional. Believing their opinions matter and that all must hear what they have to say. I never cared much for idle gossip anyway. I still have my old favorites, and that impression marked me for eternity. No one can change that! I care less for how the world works today. I am not on any social media network, and I rather keep my distance to it all.

Metallerium: Talking a little more about Black Metal in general and talking to many musicians of this style in many countries we relate that Black Metal today has become one of the mainstreams in terms of many details of corpse paint, satanism, etc. Many of these musicians from other bands blame the Norwegian Black Metal bands for making this style very mainstream and in some ways losing the initial essence. Do you think that thanks to Norwegian Black Metal this style today lost that aspect of fear, curiosity, and terror that it caused in the 90s? Because now there are flu commercials, or YouTube channels that tell you how to do corpse paint or make jokes about the style.

Limbonic Art: One thing I most certainly hate, is how disrespectful many ignorant imbeciles are towards metal in general, but especially the traditional black metal imagery. Norwegian black metal musicians initiated an unholy crusade that spread fear and mystery back in the 90’s. They were undoubtedly influenced by predecessors such as Bathory, Venom, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, Mercyful Fate, Slayer, Sarcofago, Sepultura, Volcano, etc. when they established their infamous cult. But they cannot possibly be blamed for something that later generations did…?! That is indeed wrongful accusations in my opinion! They expressed their extreme ideology through music, and they were damn successful. Sadly, when younger generations and followers see someone making success, they often feel the desperate need to copy. There are prominent Norwegian black metal musicians today that for a long time avoided the ritualistic corpse paint, to separate themselves from that mainstream circus. They prove once and for all that their extreme music is eternal. That’s all I have to say on the subject!

Metallerium: Well Daemon, we come to the sad moment of this interview, I hope you enjoyed this interview as I did and thank you very much for your time. Opus Daemoniacal is a tremendous album from the band. Maybe you have something to add to your Latin fans and Metallerium followers.

Limbonic Art: Thanks for your interest in Limbonic Art. Hopefully, the new album will be treasured by many Latin fans and Metallerium followers. I am extremely proud to finally release it officially. It is the product of countless hours of my complete devotion to metal music. Muchas gracias amigos!